Craig Winslow Studio — BLOG

[craigwinslow]

We’re Relocating!

After many years of this being a tumblr-powered blog, I’m finally starting the process of migrating it to my own website. 

Until then, my latest 2021 recap post & future posts can be found here: https://craigwinslow.com/blog

Thanks & see you on the other side!

—Craig

[craigwinslow]

2020: 🌘 Perpetual Pause

Every year, I enjoy making this animated map portraying my movement as a display of energy and progress through the year. Compared to a wildly active 2019, this year strikes a much heavier tone.

Ironically, the mantra I set for 2020 focused on slowing down, but this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind. Cancelled, postponed, delayed. Like many other people, the majority of my work for 2020 was filed into one of these categories. 

That said, I’ve been fortunate to continue work remotely, having spent most of the year getting frugal, and looking forward to whenever this ends. Aside from two camping trips, and one trip to the coast, I’ve been in Portland ever since May. 

Everything considered, I strangely accomplished what I meant to do in 2020. Hunkering down led to developing a solid daily routine— a far cry from my typical pace the past few years, but one that has helped manifest normalcy and structure. It became a year to truly slow down, realign, unlearn, and reassess. The best way I can describe this year is a 9-month weird dreamscape living in perpetual pause.

Here’s what I ended up doing in 2020:

Brilliant! Jackpot (Postponed)

Right after the Tim Burton exhibit launched, The Neon Museum and I knew we wanted to follow up with a brand new, drastically bigger, better version of Brilliant! called Jackpot. The plan was to install in April, so I was fully immersed in Brilliant! Jackpot the first three months of 2020—creating the most exciting, diverse, and nostalgic version of this exhibit. Everything was ready to install in March, and then the COVID-19 shutdowns began. We remotely installed the original version of Brilliant! while we put an indefinite hold on Jackpot.

This is when everything flipped sideways.

Lockdown in Los Angeles

The biggest positive of this year? It brought my partner and I much closer together. Looking back, I can’t believe we flew to Hawaii in February, but I’m so glad we did. Early March I flew down to LA, and cancelled my return flight. Jessica and I had only been dating for a few months, and suddenly found ourselves moved in together, during the start of a pandemic. It was either going to work out, or it wasn’t. 

Fortunately for us, it really worked. I lived down in LA for two months, during which Jessica lost her job due to the pandemic, and we ended up advancing rough plans for her to move up to Portland. On May 1st, we made the 15-hr drive from Los Angeles to Portland, and only stopped 3 times for gas (and one time for In-N-Out). 

XR Talk Interview 

I was very thankful to join Paul and Spencer on this podcast shortly after the world drastically changed due to COVID-19 shutdowns. This conversation happened as my focus turned from in-person projections to safe and distanced artwork and the ways I could take advantage of virtual mediums to bring people together. Watch here

Lockdown Letterheads

The first-ever virtual Letterheads! I previously attended Letterheads in Tokyo and London, which were wonderful experiences in their own right, but Lockdown Letterheads was special. A virtual meet-up with 24 hours of programming that any sign painter and guilder from around the world could attend! Sam Roberts, who has organized Letterheads in the past, asked me to co-host with several other Letterheads Alumni. I also led a presentation about Light Capsules, ghost signs, and shared some of Dr. Ken Jones' work.

The Wild VR Interview

I had a fantastic conversation with the team behind The Wild, a product instrumental in creating the Tim Burton exhibition at The Neon Museum in late 2019. This case study focused on my process of implementing immersive team collaboration in VR to build the exhibit from across the world before installation—an ideal tool for 2020. Read it here.

The Neon Museum 360 Virtual Tour

We had an opportunity to create a virtual tour of the boneyard thanks to global virtualization due to the pandemic. For the first time, the museum could give anyone across the world access to experience the museum. I built and shipped a Matterport kit, then worked remotely with Steve Siwinski of The Neon Museum to execute a full scan of the main boneyard. Working with their archival team, we created over 120 informational hot spots so virtual visitors could view historical photos and information about each sign along the way.

Pre-Visualization in Ventuz - under NDA

A continuation of a secret ongoing client project, due to launch to the public next year. I've been part of a team working on real time graphics and a new playback platform for a large scale integration. The creation of a custom pre-visualization environment led into the production phase of this long-term project.

Rise Up, Show Up, Unite

A call to action in support of the Biden/Harris campaign, started by Jessica Hiche and Adé Hogue. I created this 3-dimensional looping graphic in a day, first designing in illustrator, animating and modeling in Blender 3D, then exporting from Premiere. It was inspiring to see so many other creatives using different mediums come together and express their support using the same prompt. You can see more at riseupshowupunite.vote.

Intel Creator Spotlight

It's always exciting to dive back into a previous project with newfound hindsight and experience. For this artist spotlight with Intel, I discussed my concept design and creative direction for the pre-game intro with the Trail Blazers for NBA Playoffs 2018. 

Thanks to Intel for the opportunity and the editors at Art of Visuals for making magic out of the interview, b-roll, and behind-the-scenes footage we provided. Filming this in the middle of a pandemic was an interesting— but not impossible—challenge! Intel dropped off a lighting kit, and my partner, Jessica, filmed everything in 4K using her commercial photography gear.

This home studio structure ended up being advantageous for the next project...

Adobe MAX 2020 - Behind the Light, with Takuma Nakata, Sponsored by Intel

Dare I say... the most exciting thing that happened this year?! The opportunity to have a keynote spot at Adobe MAX, a conference I attended many times over the years, was quite an honor. I got to have a conversion with fellow Adobe Residency Alumni, Takuma Nakata, about where our work intersects and how light, design, and art inspire us. We wanted to push the limits of a typical virtual video interview by recording 3D point clouds simultaneously that Takuma combined together in a nature-driven point cloud backdrop. It created a very interesting and exciting way to bring us together from Portland and Kyoto in a virtual space.

ATypI 2020 All Over Conference - Light Capsules and Lettering, Projection Mapping with Craig Winslow 

Another virtual conference I spoke at this summer. I dove deep into the process behind Light Capsules with a live demonstration and discussed the next iteration of the project.

Concept: Beacon

As a result of my interview with XR Talk, HELO, a global talent agency, reached out with an opportunity to pitch a project bid. This led to some exciting creative conceptual design work for a potential client.

Concept: Telescope Tree

Another conceptual design worth sharing for a project bid that was brought to me through HELO. Sketches and 3D modeling came together quickly for this concept, which was pitched as "an artistic interpretation of a holiday display."

Vivid Coffee

For the past 5 years, I have led design at Vivid Coffee, creating everything from branding and packaging to merchandise. 

Vivid recently moved into a gorgeous cafe space in downtown Burlington, Vermont. We’ve been busy creating menu boards, exterior signage, neon art, as well as dozens of new roast labels, and a expansion into Snapchilled Coffee. I also helped design a mug with art by Keenan Bouchard to benefit Honduras after the Santa Barbara region was devastated by multiple hurricanes. 

The list of exciting things to come in 2021 is long, as I continue to help with creative aspects to building out the new cafe.

‘Glow’ with Hueman

Dr. Mabrie and his team reached out after seeing the Lightform AR Mural I created with Gemma O'Brien for Lightform. They proposed a collaboration with Oakland-based artist Allison "Hueman" Torneros on a brand new mural for their Union Square office in San Francisco. 

Hueman painted this entirely in B&W and the rest of the color was added with light. I worked closely with Hueman to brainstorm and define direction, responding to her vision as the artist to create all custom content to augment her work as a living, projection artwork. 

Perhaps the most '2020' feat was creating this work entirely remotely. With help from Dr. Mabrie's team to get measurements, I built the office in 3D, and used Disguise One to show an example of the final installation. After printing a scaled-down version of the mural, I built a mirrored set-up in my home studio in Portland, for testing and perfecting the animations in person. Once the mural was painted and placed, a local installer mounted the projector, and I utilized beta cloud tools in Lightform Creator to scan, deploy content, and publish updates remotely.

Representation with HELO

After a few conceptual design bids for projects, HELO and I started to discuss what official representation would look like. They were excited about my approach, and the cleverness of my previous projects. I’m pleased to share that I officially signed on with them as my EU and US representation! Excited to see what projects we collaborate on together next year, as I set goals for dream clients and projects.

2021

I’m proud to have done so well this year, despite... 2020. My growing focus on 3D pre-visualization really thrived in this new virtual world. 

I’ll admit, it’s hard to look forward to 2021. It’s going to begin the same way 2020 ended, but I remain hopeful that by summer or fall things will get moving again. Until then, I’ll continue to focus on working remotely, finding new projects, and expanding creative outputs.

An ideal 2021 for me is one where I get to see family and friends. I’m also turning my attention to my dear project Light Capsules in multiple ways: the first permanent Light Capsule installation, an augmented reality iOS app as an extension of the project and a platform for future AR capsules, alongside new projection installations.

It’s also safe to say we’ll finally see the new Brilliant! Jackpot in 2021, whenever it’s safe to bring our talented team from around the country to beautiful Las Vegas.

My mantra for 2021: Be healthy, stay inspired.

It’s a hope I share not only for myself, but for everyone else. It’s been one brutal hell of a year. —Craig

[craigwinslow]

2019: Wait whoa what

The year began quietly with a lot of research and education; teaching workshops, playing with new technology, and a few concepts I couldn’t get out of my head. The momentum of client work began to pick up as I traveled to New Mexico, Japan, and NYC. 

The balance of personal and work life has been something I’ve not often shared about, but have written extensively on for myself. In late February I went through a breakup, at the same time I was the busiest with work that I’ve ever been. A flow of success combined with inner turmoil led to pressured feelings resulting in me not posting much online, despite having the most productive and gratifying year yet.

Halfway through the year I had completed about 15 projects and was ready for a hiatus when The Neon Museum brought me on as an experiential consultant for the upcoming Tim Burton exhibition. I then found myself brought on by Tim Burton to lead design for the exhibition and the rest of the year was a blur; living in France, Malibu, and Las Vegas, working with Tim to bring his vision of many new artworks to life. 

Here's a look back at my work from 2019, followed by a look forward to 2020.

Light Capsules

During Portland Winter Light, I added three of my favorite ghost signs to my growing series that began during my Adobe Creative Residency.

Light Capsule No.032 - Sam Moy & Co. Light Capsule No.033 - Say it with Flowers Light Capsule No.034 - Talbot & Casey / Ford Garage

Teaching More Workshops

For the past few years, I’ve been teaching projection mapping, focusing on MadMapper and showing the potential of new platforms like Lightform. I started off the year with a handful of workshops at PNCA where I’ve been an occasional adjunct faculty / research fellow, but later taught in New Mexico, and at LetterWest in Salt Lake City.

New Mexico Highlands University

NMHU brought me in as a special advisor, mentoring their students on an exhibit at Jemez Historic Site with New Mexico Historic Sites. Using the cyc-wall in their campus production studio, we created an actual size projection to mockup their design.

While visiting the site, I captured the San José de los Jemez Mission Church with drone photogrammetry. This tool continually inspires me and led to exploring new pre-vis techniques throughout the year, integrating with platforms like Disguise One, and The Wild.

Winchester Mystery House Concepts

I was commissioned to conceptualize ways to improve or augment their visitor experience. I won’t go into detail about the secrets… it was an incredible opportunity to explore and develop ideas for such a notoriously historical estate.

Pre-Visualization in Disguise One - under NDA

Bear with me for the vagueness on this one, but it’s worth sharing as it was a significant benchmark & success! I introduced a pre-visualization content pipeline that uses virtual reality and photogrammetry to get a more realistic sense of a surrounding environment for wayfinding, large scale projections, and digital/physical interfaces. Wow, so cool.

Oxfam America - Behind the Barcodes at SXSW

One of the proudest moments of 2019 put my skills to use with Oxfam. We staged an incredibly impactful guerilla projection from over 400ft away on Whole Foods HQ. Two more light installations targeted a large wall just before you drive up to their HQ, and a store in the suburbs. Find out more about the campaign at Behind the Barcodes. 

‘Line Break’

Created for the Design Week Portland party curated by Kamp Grizzly, it was time consuming but therapeutic to create. I brought back one of my favorite materials from one my earlier installations “Light Fall” back in 2015. Designed to be site-specific to fit the space, (and cover-up doors) it is a focus on self-reflection, looking forward/outward and backward/inward, simultaneously.

Tokyo Letterheads

A very timely mental reset, my first trip to Japan was incredible. During Tokyo Letterheads I stayed dedicated to the newbie sign painting room, practicing the craft of sign painting. The following week I explored Kyoto and Koyasan. A very much needed solo trip.

Believer Festival - Featured Artist

I had the pleasure of collaborating with José Orduña on a three-part performance, projection mapping the surrounding him at Ne10 to augment his spoken words. I also created an ambient animated version of their branding, built into a projected backdrop that added life but didn’t distract from intimate performances on the opening night stage of the the literary Believer Festival.

Ready Made - POWER TRIP

Chosen as one of 5 featured artists, I was given the opportunity and creative reign on a warehouse space, reflecting on what power meant to me. I performed a live-mapping of the stage backdrop while it was being painted by Charlie Hudson, and made a DIY laser array that cast throughout the space.

Champlain College Commencement 2019

I had the honor of working with the office of The President of Champlain College to help lead creative direction, stage design, content design, and experiential flow of the commencement. 

KOBE - for Ren 03: Philadelphia

A secret project carried out in one night. I teamed up with photographer Kyle Hannon for Ren Quarterly to create three site-specific projections mapped various memorable locations from Kobe Bryant’s childhood, created using rare source images from Kobe’s high school years.

LetterWest Breakout Speaker

I was asked to give a talk at LetterWest and I’m so glad I did. It came at a great time for me, reflecting on past years working independently, that the idea of ‘success’ has many forms, and urging those in attendance to find their own inner weird. Stay giddy, friends.

‘Emerson’s Reflection’ - Love Letters Exhibit

As part of a large experiential exhibit love for letters of all kinds, this 2-month installation immersed you within excerpts from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self Reliance” and “Experience” that really spoke to me, edited to neutralize pronouns. For me, this piece was all about putting the visitor within a reflective space of self-love, shown in an interactive, photogenic way.

Brilliant! System Overhaul

One of the most successful yet unseen accomplishments of the year was executing a complete technical overhaul of our permanent exhibition ‘Brilliant!’ at The Neon Museum in Las Vegas, improving stability by adding an entirely new show controller, lighting control module, and audio testing interface.

Tim Burton’s ‘Lost Vegas’ Exhibition

From the design of a 40ft. tall title centerpiece sign to the artistic styling of a sexy slot machine, I was tasked to work with Tim Burton to rapidly prototype and translate his vision and sketches into polished creations as the 'Lost Vegas' Exhibition's creative director. 

Working closely with Tim Burton for 3 months in France, Malibu, and Las Vegas, with assistant to Mr. Burton Lilah Lutes, and executive producer Sam Kelley, in coordination with curator Jenny He, we were able to bring to life the incredibly ambitious task of organizing the fabrication of a ton of new artworks and coordinating everything for a two-week period.

Each piece deserves its own post to share the process and talented people behind it, but in an effort to keep this 2019 recap tight, here a few of my favorite works: ‘Lost Vegas’ Sign Tower, Neon Grid Wall, the Dome, Landmark Hotel Model Mars Attacks! Projection, Robot Boy And Slot Machine, Stainboy Arcade, Holographic Drawings and Paintings, and the mysterious ViewPorts scattered throughout the boneyard...

The exhibition has been extended to April 12, so don’t miss it. 

CBS This Morning did a great profile on Tim Burton and the exhibition here: Inside "the mind of Tim Burton" at Neon Museum in Las Vegas 

Brilliant! feat. Tim Burton

The icing on the cake for the year. I’m so happy to have been able to collaborate with director and artist Tim Burton on an homage finale during ‘Brilliant!’ for the extent of his exhibition, featuring the track “The Man” by The Killers and iconic footage from Mars Attacks! and Beetlejuice.

‘Brilliant!’ is by far one of the proudest works I’ve created and I’m looking forward to furthering my partnership with The Neon Museum going strong into 2020.

~

In closing 2019, and forward:

2019 was a year that began with heartbreak and a humbling workload, which transitioned into recalibration and self-reflection, was then thrown into a wild mind-bender of work before wrapping the year full circle, finding myself in a quite unexpected new love. 

I found myself focusing on a lot of pre-visualization work, finding new ways to optimize my own workflow and simulate what a project could be, before making it. Leaning into my ability to work rapidly, this workflow smoothly translated a director’s vision through 3D modeling into visualization in VR. 

An ever-growing thread through my work focuses on history, my neverending fascination with bridging the gap between distant past with upcoming technologies to contribute to a more thoughtful future.

As 2020 begins, I’m coming back from a storm starting to hone in on my own voice and what I’d like to accomplish next. As a result of a growing interest in larger-scale immersive works, I’ve begun to assemble the right people/partners for those projects— exploring what ‘scaling’ my studio looks like, while staying nimble. 

Over the next few months, I’m going to spend some solid time auditing my work, recalibrating, and refocusing my studio practice and website as I enter year 7 of this independent venture, and year 10 of this creative career.

And as always, my goal mantra for the year.

2020: Position, Rotate, Scale

Position— Slow down for a studio realignment, audit, assess life balance.

Rotate— Be ever-ready for change, see things from different perspectives.

Scale— Fewer but larger? Hire or partner? Set realistic expectations/boundaries.

Bringing this energy into 2020, I’m looking forward to new work I’ll be able to announce soon that will bring me back to my home state of Maine, as well as what’s next for my work in Las Vegas. I’m also going to invest in Light Capsules again, and get a new road trip project in the books. 2020.

[craigwinslow]

2018: Ripples from Jet Fuel

Oh, hello again friend! It’s been 1.5 years since my last update... 

If you look back, I used to write and share a lot more. I often feel discouraged at the nature of these massive “catch-up” posts where I essentially dump a bunch of images on you. Then again, it’s kind of comforting; I’ve had my hands full, and it’s been some very positive momentum.

Immediately after wrapping up my Adobe Creative Residency in May 2017, my focus turned toward a massive opportunity at The Neon Museum in Las Vegas. For the rest of 2017, I worked on designing an entire, first-of-its-kind, permanent exhibition called ‘Brilliant!’ which opened Feb 2018; a 30 min immersive audiovisual experience, reviving their broken neon signs with digital light.

It was one of the most challenging and rewarding projects I’ve worked on to date; an incredible affirmation in my own abilities, for The Neon Museum to put so much trust in me to enable my vision for the project, and it continues to be a fully collaborative partnership. 2019 will see much more out of ‘Brilliant!’

I’ve often referred to the Adobe Creative Residency as jet fuel for my creative career, and it’s absolutely true— at the time, I had a college degree, 3 years experience at JDK, and 3 years experience working for myself. Landing the Adobe Residency amplified my momentum tenfold, financially enabling me to explore, improve, and share on a global stage. (Applications are now open for 2019 by the way!)

This however, led to a massive amount of stress, which I had to constantly cope with as I pushed myself harder than ever to achieve as much as possible in those short 52 weeks. But, what happens... when the jet fuel runs out? After your dream job ends? 

It kinda... didn’t end. The rest of 2017 led right into working on ‘Brilliant!’ which felt like a massive extension of Light Capsules, but neon, and Las Vegas. Similar stress levels continued, but it was such viscerally, wonderfully, satisfying, fulfilling work.

The people who have experienced ‘Brilliant!’ tell me about their emotional responses, it’s rich with history, nostalgia, and a feeling of childhood magic— I could not possibly be more proud of it.

Following launch, I finally took a proper break: a month in Europe with Maggie to Amsterdam, Haarlem, train to Berlin, train to Copenhagen, and a weekend in Paris. It was incredible. I visited museums. I relaxed. I read a freakin book. (Ready Player One. Yes, I thought the movie fell super flat.) 

Halfway through the trip, I had already started working on my next big opportunity, with the Portland Trail Blazers for the NBA Playoffs. Their CMO saw my SXSW talk near the end of my Adobe Creative Residency, and wanted to bring me in to work on new concepts— ripples from the jet fuel of my year as a creative resident, provided doors to open and opportunities I wouldn’t have expected.

Here’s a selection of 2018 projects I was most excited to create this year, followed by a look into the future at what 2019 might look like.

~

BRILLIANT! A NEON MUSEUM EXPERIENCE

360º permanent audiovisual exhibit at The Neon Museum in Las Vegas, NV. — Read more here!

PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS NBA PLAYOFFS

Concept design and creative direction for the pre-game opening of the NBA Playoffs. — Read more here!

LIGHTFORM x GEMMA O’BRIEN

Projection augmented mural at Lightform HQ, collaboration with Gemma O’Brien for Lightform. — Read more here!

INTO THE MOON

Projection design for a music video directed by Micah Dudash for Casey Dubie’s “Into The Moon,” supported with projectors by Canon. — Watch the full music video here!

PICKATHON COSMOS

A massive projection mapped sky canvas for the 20th annual Pickathon, co-curated with Eric Cade Schoenborn, showing various digital artists’ work. — Read more here.

LONDON LETTERHEADS

Collaborative projection mural with Anna Frederick for PVS’s The Grand Exhibition at London Letterheads; also gave a Light Capsules talk, taught two pen tool workshops, and showed a reprise projection of Light Capsule No.009.

THOUGHTWORKS PARADIGMSHIFT

Concept work, specialty lighting, projection mapping, and stage/content design with the core ThoughtWorks P/S team. I was also honored to be a featured artist for their Signature Event, creating multiple graffiti projections and a laser/projection kiln light installation called “Harrop’s Kiln”

WHITE NOISE NOW // HEAT

Our follow up to SALT, we brought the massive, recently unoccupied, surprise location Blodgett Oven Factory to life with a site-specific performance of light, sound, and movement. One night, one experience. Full video & documentation is in the works. — Here’s a peek.

SEATTLE PIER 86

Public art collaboration with Chris Rojas, creating a variety of projection mapped historical and locally-inspired content for Seattle’s largest projection mapping installation to date.

KAMP GRIZZLY HOLIDAZE

Closed out the year with a proper doozy of a party— KAMP brought me onto their core team to create some special light installations for their holiday party: detailed shopping carts with faux neon, commissioned a custom market sign, controlled live visuals on a 4 meter projection-mapped sphere, animated a powerful stage laser— oh, and an entire experiential light room where I created “NOW THAT’S WHAT I CALL CYBER” augmenting a designed array of 500 CDs + 17 mirror balls + haze.

There you have it, 2018.

Oh! Also I had some past Speaking Scenarios!

WeMake Celebrates 2017 Keynote Speaker — Portland, OR CIID Open Lecture — Copenhagen, DK Nevada State College — Henderson, NV PSU Show & Tell — Portland, OR NAB Show Panel on Future of AR/VR/XR — Las Vegas, NV AIGA Vermont WTF!? Series — Burlington, VT New Mexico Highlands University — Las Vegas, NM

Reflecting forward.

Back when I started this independent venture in 2013, I started setting annual ‘mantras’ to focus on overarching goals, a mental mind-state— something to balance my gut against when pursuing projects and concepts.

It’s been tough, self-defeating at times, and borderline overwhelming, a pressure to always be sharing, socializing the medias, while balancing getting the work done, and having a personal life. Those who love what they do, know that work/life balance isn’t B&W. It’s oddly comforting though, taking this all as affirmation that these past years I’ve been gaining speed, continuing to actively tumble up the rabbit hole.

Previous mantras: 2013: Do More, Go More 2014: Do More, Go More 2015: The year that moved me. (From The Past, Build The Future) 2016: Go, Hustle, Be. The year of YES. 2017: YES. Let’s do this. (smarter, better, together) 2018: Let’s do this, together.

Looking back at 2018, “Let’s do this, together.” absolutely rings true. Nearly all of the above projects involved heavy collaboration and getting multiple partners together to achieve such lofty projects. No one can do it alone, but also the goal isn’t ‘more people’ it’s bringing together the right people. 

This year I learned the massive benefit of building the right team for each job. I’m now feeling more internally stabilized, striking a balance, and have found a better flow.

2019: Seek, Select, Assemble.

Seek— Pursue the difficult.

Select— Nod to advice I received many years ago from Austin Howe: “Continue to be selective. It will pay off.”

Assemble— Bring people together, contribute to community, enable other creatives’ dreams, build powerful collaborative teams to explore new concepts.

A peek toward 2019...

Winchester Mystery House — I’ve been working on some special concepts with their team and we’re narrowing in on a few to hopefully bring to reality.... Tim Burton — Recently announced by The Neon Museum, I’m hoping to be closely involved... dare I say, “collaborate?” with the legendary director himself in 2019. Light Capsules — I’ve been scouting so many locations, near and far, now it’s time to make it happen. NYC. Vancouver. Colorado. Atlanta. Crookston. New Orleans. Jacksonville (OR). Chicago. San Jose. Salt Lake City. Ireland. Lviv, Ukraine. A whole new website... it is time! Japan — In April I’m heading to participate in Tokyo Letterheads and explore Kyoto, Osaka, and Nara. Incredible new tools —I’ve been fortunate to be testing new tools, ones that have already started to spark entirely new design workflows... Lightform, Torch 3D, The Wild, and Google Earth Studio/VR are four in particular I’m super excited to continue exploring.

Stay focused, stay positive, kick some ass. Hello, 2019.

[craigwinslow]

Adobe Creative Residency Complete ✅

Over the past year it’s been a complete dream job to work, fully funded, pursuing my passion projects. I’ve found a new confidence in myself, in my work, and what I’m capable of moving forward. This residency pushed me to push myself, and as I usually do— I set the bar for myself high.

As it turns out, one year really isn’t as long as you think it is. 52 weeks went by really quick.

With my time as a resident officially over, it’s time for me to pass the torch to a fresh new set of residents, and offer what I learned along the way!

Here’s what I did with a year as Adobe Creative Resident:

(Bold = I made a thing!)

Light Capsules 001 — Burlington, VT Full Moon Masquerade — Signal Kitchen (Collab room w/ Greg Davis) Light Capsules 002 — Joseph, OR Light Capsules 003 — Portland, OR Light Capsules 004 — Astoria, OR (Adobe Snapchat takeover) Typographics — Speaker, TypeLab 99U — Attendee Adobe Creative Jam Vancouver — Speaker Light Capsules 005 — Cincinnati, OH NikeLab x RT Animations Light Capsules 006 — Portland, ME Light Capsules 007 — Portland, ME XOXOFEST 2016 — Interactive installation with Ben Purdy London Design Festival — Speaker, V&A Museum Light Capsules 008 — London / Take Courage Light Capsules 009 — London / Barlow & Roberts Light Capsules 010 — London / Cakebread Robey Light Capsules Worldwide Party — Distillery Bar Light Capsules 011 — London / Wire Works Light Capsules 012 — London / Stoke Newington Palimpsest White Noise Now // SALT Light Capsules 013 — Detroit, MI feat. Miss Van Adobe Creative Jam Detroit — (Light Installation) Future of Storytelling Festival NYC — Attendee Adobe MAX — Speaker Adobe MAX BASH — Entry Installation Projected Surfborts Monster Project x Adobe SF — Light Installation  Adobe Creative Jam Portland — Speaker Light Capsules 014 — Portland / Hotel Philip Portland Winter Light Festival — Speaker Light Capsules 015 — PWLF / Roy Burnett Motors Light Capsules 016 — PWLF / Overland Cars Light Capsules 017 — PWLF / Jacob & Gile Light Capsules 018 — PWLF / Dillen Rogers Road trip to SXSW // Adobe Creative Cloud Instagram Takeover Light Capsules 019 — Los Angeles, CA Light Capsules 020 — Las Vegas, NV Light Capsules 021 — Winslow, AZ Impulse El Cosmico Airstream Projection — Marfa, TX SXSW — Speaker 20x2 // Austin, TX — Speaker PNCA — Speaker Motion Class ArtHackDay Portland (M I X) Beowulf // Ben Bagby // Princeton  — Experiential Design & Visuals Discovery Communications — Speaker VIVA Creative — Speaker Adobe Creative Jam RISD — Speaker Adobe Residency Closing Party — (Augmented ghost sign prints) Better Together — Design Week PDX // Collab w/ Cinco Design & Marmoset

🙌

From the beginning of this journey, I met Libby, who became my adviser, my manager, —(actually more like our spirit guide) all along the way. We had weekly check-ins to keep on track, to dream bigger, (or dream smaller), and keep my overall scope in check throughout the year. Thank you Libby!

I hit the ground running, planning trips, scoping ghost signs, travelling a ton... then as I mentioned in my 2016 recap, I hit a point in November and became super overwhelmed. Not budgeting enough time for documentation, the completed projects quickly piled up, facing new work to be done. Those who know me, know this is nothing new. I don’t always give myself time to rest or reflect. This time, I actually forced myself to slow down. The big advice I can give is this: Pace yourself when pursuing a large project. It’s also totally fine to ask for help; getting extra hands with photo/video this year was a massive help.

A defining moment of personal progress this year hit me after my interview with The Great Discontent went live— a publication I’ve been a huge fan of, and all of the impressive creatives within it... I saw myself in a new light as my self-criticisms suddenly shifted to ‘proud’ as this independent design career I’ve been working so hard on the past 4 years is truly taking off.

Portrait by Armando Garcia.

Some more thoughts about the residency.

Like most things in life, the more you put into something, the more you’ll get out of it. This has been especially true over the past year— I’ve pushed Adobe, and they’ve pushed me further. The strongest example of this was my idea to go to London. They pushed me further, saying I should make my light installations an official event at London Design Festival. Collaborating with Sam Roberts, to gain his local expertise, that series was a huge success and made a big impact following a feature on Creative Review, and Fast Co. Design.

The same thing happened with SXSW. Adobe asked me to speak at SXSW, and I responded “Hell yeah, can I road trip there?” which turned into a 12-day van adventure and super-fun Instagram takeover.

Despite my hat, it wasn’t a year full of YES. This residency helped me be critical of my time and be selective in the work I take on, to be honest with how much I can accomplish within any given chunk of time. I’m getting better at this. It’s still really hard to turn down something I really want to be part of, regardless of if I have ample time for it.

The big goal is to strike a balance— do the work, share the result, rest.

I’ve wrapped up a year of strong work, but I’ve admittedly been under-sharing how much has happened over the past couple weeks. I’ll catch up, it just takes time. That said, I couldn’t be more thankful for this opportunity & excited to get working on what’s next.

So, what’s next?

First off, I’m taking the rest of the month in Portland to slow down and catch up on aforementioned documenting. (Also a bit of internet website housekeeping.) Then I’m heading to NYC all June to participate in ITP Camp, and spend some solid time in New York.

What next for Light Capsules? Easy answer: more Light Capsules!— in fact, I already completed my first post-residency installation in Washington D.C. for Funk Parade! Next up, I’m heading to Winnipeg on July 29 for a special 5-in-1 night event presented by Ghostsigns.ca which I’m incredibly excited for. I’ve also got my sights on Butte, MT mid-July, and Vancouver, BC... amongst many other fantastic candidate locations (New Orleans, Pittsburgh, & more) as I explore more ways to financially sustain the project.

As a result of my Adobe SXSW road trip, I’ve been working further with The Neon Museum to plan a large-scale audiovisual experience. It will be a significant undertaking over the next few months, and I can’t wait to share more specific updates on that, soon. We’re aiming for an October launch. Just in time for Adobe MAX 2017!

I’ll also be continuing my other project, White Noise Now. After the successful debut performance of “SALT” in Burlington, VT back in October, we’re excited to start planning our next performance locations.

Most excitingly, in the pursuit to optimize my studio workflow, I’m excited to announce I’m working with Conjure to help manage my studio as I take on more, and bigger, projects! I’ve got some other new ideas brewing up my sleeve, and it’s been great dreaming with them the past year.

Fun story: When I arrived for my final interviews over a year ago, I saw this big ghost sign “A” on Adobe’s building, and thought it was (figuratively & literally) a good sign. It was only fitting to close out my residency by making it shine with all of our work.

Thank you, Adobe. 

What a fantastic experience to be a part of. What great people to share it with. Be sure to check out what my fellow residents Christine Herrin, Syd Weiler, and Sara Dietschy did this past year! Also JUST ANNOUNCED, meet the new residents for 2017/2018 and see what they’re planning!

Ambitious creatives, keep this residency on your radar.  It’s a dream job & life changer— I can’t recommend it enough. 

💚 — Craig

I’d like to express my personal gratitude to Libby Nicholaou, Heidi Voltmer, Mala Sharma, Mike Chambers, Stefano Corazza, and Alysha Naples, for their support over the past year!

[craigwinslow]

Portland Winter Light Festival 2017

If you’re in Portland, OR this week, you’re in for a treat. I’m bringing my creative residency project Light Capsules here for 5 consecutive nights, as part of the Portland Winter Light Festival 2017. 

Each night from Feb 1–5 I’ll be projection mapping a different ghost sign in PDX, so track one down, come say hello, and see history come alive!

Saturday’s is at StormBreaker Brewing, mention my blog & I’ll buy you a beer!

[craigwinslow]

2 0 1 6 👋

Go, Hustle, Be.

Personally, I’ve had a breakthrough of a year. I feel more confident, more financially stable, and just damn proud of what I’ve been able to accomplish.

Landing the Adobe Creative Residency back in April has propelled my independent design career in wonderful ways. It’s given me a massive platform to promote my work, share my process, and educate others along the way.

99U wrote a feature on Projecting West. Creative Review and then FastCo Design covered my work from the London Design Festival. Most affirming of all— one of my favorite publications, The Great Discontent, did a fantastic long-form interview on me.

I’ve met an incredible amount of new people, produced an impressive amount of work, but by the end of 2016 I had one big problem. One that’s hard to admit.

I’m completely overwhelmed.

I made a bunch of work in quick succession and it’s all piled up. Finding time to document work is a common struggle if you have another immediate project to jump to next. I push myself hard, but in the pressure put on myself to make the most of this residency, I’m drowning by being overly ambitious. 

Hell— even finishing this recap post has a been a crazy-daunting task. I haven’t even posted on my blog since I got the residency in April. That needs to change. I miss writing about bits of process & behind the scenes of projects.

Typically when I get stressed, I let myself go on a tangent and work on whatever I really want to work on. That usually means I start another new idea, but so long as I’m happy & being productive, it works. Eventually I’ll snap out of it, and stay up all night churning out actual work to get out of a creative rut. This time, I completely shut down instead.

So, I spent the holidays reflecting, took some good time with friends and family, and disconnected— slowed down to better move forward.

I’ve succeeded in many ways this year, grown personally more than any other year in my life, yet I can’t help but be self-critical and focus on the ways I failed. 

Here’s what I did this year.

january

Future is Inevitable

I kicked off 2016 with my first solo art show, which turned on just before midnight. Neutrally named, passers by stared into a magic doorway containing fleeting future memories.

Scoble Show — Napa Valley

Robert Scoble invited me to his 2nd annual party and I made a fun impromptu light installation on a tower of wine barrels and vineyard doors.

White Noise Now Announce Video

After quietly experimenting with materials and bouncing ideas, I filmed and edited this launch teaser for a new collaborative with movement artist Erika Senft Miller and sound designer Miles Dean. (Scroll down, we launched the first performance in VT in Oct!)

february

Take F(light)

An impromptu short made with two other PWLF artists, flying a glass airplane with a custom-built drone, to promote our creative works for the Portland Winter Light Festival.

Between Them — Portland Winter Light Festival

Bringing the bridges of Portland to life, imagining what inside jokes the pillars must have about these interesting Portland-folk. Given a spare projector, I showed the Future is Inevitable doorways on two neighboring pillars.

ZX + Future is Inevitable at AFRU Gallery

Same weekend as the PWLF, I showed these two pieces in a group show called ByteMe 5.0.

march

Object Theory Branding

I was fortunate to work with creative director Amy Hillman to create a visual brand for Object Theory, named Most Innovative AR/VR Companies of 2016 by Fast Company.

Epiccurence — The Montues

Invited by Dann Petty to augment the space, ended up creating an impromptu projection with live visuals. I met so many amazing creative humans.

Portland Monthly

I did a couple projection mapping installations at various events for Portland Monthly. One of them was ruined by an amazing sunset.

Applied for Adobe Creative Residency

My good friend Mike Ackerman told me about some creative residency thing but the deadline was only 2 days away. I stayed up all night and submitted my Light Capsules concept for it. Glad I pulled that all-nighter.

april

Soundtoys / Julianna Barwick

Projection mapping live graphics on a cyc wall at Soundtoys while responding to the beautiful sounds of Julianna Barwick.

Jackson Hole Road Trip

Drove out to Jackson, WY to hang out with a close friend Nick, scope out ghostsigns, and mentally prepare for the upcoming year of residency work.

Preparing for Residency

Adobe sent a video team to Portland to create an intro, announcing my residency. You’ll find that video directly above these words you’re reading.

may

Full Moon Masquerade with Greg Davis

Projection mapping into a fish tank, stairwell, and shipwreck at ECHO Aquarium. Thanks to my friends at Signal Kitchen for bringing me on!

Light Capsules — Adobe Creative Residency

For my residency I proposed a project I had in mind since Day 6 of Projecting West, projection mapping ghost signage around the world, bringing the previous layers of history back to life.

Light Capsule 001 — Burlington, VT

To kick off my residency project, I thought it was only right to start on the building where my design career truly began.

Light Capsule 002 — Joseph, OR

During a camping trip, I brought my generator and projectors, and found this little Shell sign and brought it to life at sunset.

Light Capsule 003 — Portland, OR

For a promotional live news segment about the project and my residency. Stay tuned for a Portland takeover for Portland Winter Light Festival 2017!

june

Light Capsule 004 — Astoria, OR

The first palimpsest of my residency project, the whole process from research to projection, was shared on Adobe’s Snapchat. I also wrote a big process post published for Adobe Create Magazine.

99U Article — Projecting West

After being interviewed by Matt McCue, he wrote a long piece on 99U about the story and origins behind our road trip kickstarter adventure, Projecting West.

july

Light Capsule 005 — Cincinnati, OH

Visited the incredible American Sign Museum, worked with Ronny Salerno, and revived the last remaining wall by sign painter Chuck Keiger.

PBR Unicorn Mask

Totally forgot to share this one. I worked with Jen Fuller Studios to design & produce a kit to make your own unicorn head out of a PBR box. They shipped the guide for Halloween 2016. You can get your own template for free on PBR’s site. Oh, and here’s the video I shot/edited as a making-of.

august

NikeLab x RT

As soon as I began the residency, I was separately approached by NikeLab for an animation/installation project. Adobe completely encouraged me to pursue it, taking time to focus on what resulted in an animated Ricardo Tischi pattern that was shown globally.

Light Capsule 006 — Portland, ME

Of course I had to put my hometown on the map. This one was quite a challenge to figure out, with a few mysteries that remain... Read more about it in my latest article on Adobe Create Magazine.

Light Capsule 007 —Portland, ME

For a “ghost sign,” this one wasn’t too worn, but I couldn’t resist using it to confuse people in the Portland out west.

september

XOXOFEST 2016

Collaborative light installation with my studiomate Ben Purdy. To commemorate the 5th year and impending hiatus of the festival, we blended glitched recap & speaker videos of past with a secret live feed from the bar. This was our first time actually working together on a project. (We’ve actually been paid to not work together before, but that’s another story.)

London Design Festival

Whoa. Huge trip to London to bring a series of Light Capsules across the pond. Collaborated with Sam Roberts of Ghostsigns. I was also honored to kick off the festival by speaking at the V&A Museum and share my story & process.

Light Capsule 008 — Take Courage

I couldn’t not do this sign for Courage Beer. The message actually comes from war time era, and ‘take’ is used like ‘take your medicine.’ So many meanings and history in this simple two-word phrase. So good in fact, we did this sign twice, the Saturday to start the festival, and the following Saturday to end it.

Light Capsule 009 — Barlow & Roberts

Up close & personal, this wooden sign tucked under a bridge and squeezed between two structures was a great way to demonstrate the projection mapping technique and process.

Light Capsule 010 — Cakebread Robey

Another palimpsest, this one up in Stoke Newington, it was interesting to analyze the two layers and see what changed as the business changed and grew.

Light Capsule Worldwide Party — Distillery Bar

Halfway through the London Design Festival, we took over a blank wall and brought to it a digital collection of signs from all over the world.

Light Capsule 011 — Wire Works

The left part of this sign was on the corner of a building that collapsed during the war. When it was rebuilt, they filled in the bricks, but didn't repaint.

Light Capsule 012 — Westminster Gillette

As the finale of the London Design Festival series, we brought to life this triple palimpsest that took some special figuring out using historical photographs.

october

White Noise Now presents — SALT

When we announced this back in January, I had no idea the second half of my year would get so insane. Fortunately, Adobe was super supportive of the WNN project, funded it, and I roped it into my residency. It was named Best Art Installations of 2016 by Seven Days. We’re very close to sharing the video of this performance installation, and I can’t wait to grow this collaborative further.

Light Capsule 013 — Detroit, MI

Pushing the Light Capsules project further, I collaborated with Miss Van to augment her mural alongside an existing ghost sign. This was also recorded in 360º on a Gear 360.

november

Adobe MAX Speaker

Third talk of the year, and the biggest of my life. I broke down a 60 min talk into a 10 min backstory, 20 min on Projecting West, and 20 min on Light Capsules. It went super well.

Adobe MAX BASH — Entrance

I created a light installation at the entrance to the MAX BASH, projection mapping on a sculpture of 42 surfboards. Naturally, I titled this MAX BORTS.

december

New work studio

Prior to the closing of the XOXO Outpost, my studiomate Ben Purdy noticed a new studio on craigslist… with a ghost sign in it. We toured a few other places, but the Goldsmith Blocks are pretty great and now I work up close with Big Philip.

New loft apartment

In another crazy timing circumstance, my roommate was moving out and I noticed a dream apartment opened up downtown: a big gorgeous studio loft in a converted historical industrial building. Pulled the trigger on it. Moved everything in a day. First time living alone, too, but it feels just right.

Monster Project SF

My mentor at Adobe, Stefano Corazza, organized an incredible gallery show for The Monster Project, hosted in the freshly renovated Adobe SF Headquarters. I flew down to create something fun and impulsive for it. With only a day to put something together, I brought on my pal Mike Ackerman and we ended up getting a bunch of paper lanterns and turned a festive tree into a creepy monster.

1 Hotels

Another side venture started in 2015 that is gaining some solid momentum, I’m working with 1 Hotel to realize an experimental new type of immersion room in their South Beach location. Details to come!

This recap post.

Last year I was in the same situation, everything piles up, holidays hit, and I bury myself in unrealistic expectations for a massive end of year post. (You know, something epic like what Mailchimp does.) This year, I reached a limit, and quietly imploded.

2 0 1 6 mantra. Go, Hustle, Be.

GO. — I certainly went. Even hit my goal to go international, too. London, Vancouver, Tijuana, plus lots around the states.

HUSTLE. — Looking at the above, I definitely got a lot done this year. Biggest accomplishment by far was landing the residency of my dreams.

BE. — I’m proud of the quality time I’ve had with many of the new people in my life, but I still need to dedicate more time to reflection and sharing my process.

2 0 1 7 mantra. Let’s do this. (smarter, better, together)

Everything is lining up for me to propel myself forward with the momentum gained through this residency with Adobe. I want to do some incredible things next… but I can’t possibly do this alone. Nor do I want to. 

Especially in the wake of this volatile election, I want to band together with my creative peers to build projects that bring people together and create ripples of positive impact.

This year I’m going to take serious steps to work smarter, optimize my workflow, and take more time for myself. I’ve stopped flying around like an idiot for a bit, and started an actual routine. I wake up at a certain time, make breakfast, coffee, read a chapter of a book, then walk to the studio. 

And now I’ve completed this post, and can somewhat satisfyingly check it off my list, and move forward.

Let’s do this, 2017. —Craig

A FEW THINGS COMING UP 2017:

Jan 20 — Speaking at Adobe Creative Jam Portland, PSU Feb 1-4 — Light Capsules series at Portland Winter Light Festival Feb/Mar — Light Capsules road trip to SXSW from LA to Austin Mar 30 — Immersive visuals for Beowulf at Princeton University.

[craigwinslow]

Adobe Creative Resident

This month marks three years since I started designing independently. 

The first year, I'm going to be completely honest, was super rough. 

After a few exciting projects, I had no existing clients, no formal business experience, and worst of all: no financial runway. I promised myself at least a year of it, but things looked pretty grim. Attending xoxofest on a whim completely rekindled my fire.

By the second year, I started to figure this whole ‘business’ thing out. 

I gained a ton of confidence in myself, and was able to turn some concepts into reality. Self-initiated projects turned out to be the most meaningful to me, and also the most valuable— they led to more work. At the end of the year I decided to move across the country to Portland, OR.

Third year in, and I began to feel my stride. 

Steady work, bigger clients; I selectively said "yes" to as much as I possibly could. Using Kickstarter to put myself out there and fund an ambitious cross-country adventure, Projecting West, had a huge impact on me.

Now I start a new chapter, one that's going to add a whole ton of jet fuel to the campfire I've been building.

Today, I'm completely humbled to share:

I'm an Adobe Creative Resident.

Big whoop, what does this mean? It's any self-driven creative's dream job. 

Adobe has enabled me to kick my own ass, and just create.

Hear much more about what this means, and watch my feature video at Adobe's blog.

In keeping this news quiet, I've taken time for myself, to finish up client work, and to take a deep breath. I love a good hustle, especially when it's for doing something I can't stop thinking about, but this will be something else. 

I'm writing this the night before the announcement. I feel calm, confident, & thankful, but I sense the oncoming storm. Looking back on the past three years, my ship is ready, and I welcome it. Time to set sail!

—Craig

[craigwinslow]

Between Them: On display Feb 3–6, 2016

This week, I’m proud to share a large new public light installation, ‘Between Them’ on display this week at the inaugural Portland Winter Light Festival at the waterfront surrounding OMSI in Portland, OR.

I’m honored to be a featured artist, among many other talented individuals, for what’s turning out to be a very strong first year light festival in Portland. Don’t miss this one!

[craigwinslow]

2015: The year that moved me.

I've been working completely independently now for 2.5 years, and it's wild reflecting on what I've accomplished so far, thinking forward about sustaining this thing, while confronting new pressures and goals for 2016.

After a six month blogging lapse hiatus, I’m taking this moment to rapidly catch up on everything completed in 2015, to start a fresh 2016.

I began 2015 with a big move out west, boomeranging quite a bit for work, family, and an ambitious cross-country kickstarter. To visualize this, here's a map of everywhere I travelled in 2015, excluding connections.

My mantra back in 2013 when I started this venture was Do more, go more. That stuck as my mantra through 2014 and 2015 (as well as "From the Past, Build the Future") as I continued to travel and work as much as I could.

This year, I learned that mantra needed to change. But first...

Here's 2015, a full rundown of selected projects I completed, in chronological order. Most of these haven't made it to the portfolio, some have never been shared before.

AllEarth Renewables — Worked with Solidarity of Unbridled Labor (formerly JDK) to create 3D rendered animations & motion graphics.

Mike & RJ Wedding Portrait — For close friends I shoot film at weddings which turn into nice gifts. This one was striking and came right out of the camera this way.

Labatt Blue Packaging Reveal — Collaboration with Select Design for an internal show in Tampa. This one's been secret up until this moment, so... suprirse! More soon.

Celebrate Burlington 150th — BCA + the City of Burlington had me take over city hall for 3 nights for Burlington's 150th birthday.

Bitdefender BOX Launch Party — Light installation for their SF launch event, using their new product as a canvas.

Oregon Rain 3D Illusion — 3D visual illusion made for Oregon's finest virgin rain water.

Projecting West Kickstarter — On May 5th we had an idea. On May 13th we launched a Kickstarter campaign. 19 days later, we had raised $7,038 as 125 backers rocketed us across the country. June 2nd, the day after the campaign ended, we began our adventure, driving from Portland to Portland, impulse projection mapping an unfolding narrative for 15 days straight. That has been the largest, most ambitious, and most rewarding project I've worked on, and we're still reeling from how best to present+share everything.

Frendly Gathering 2015 Projection Visuals — The week after Projecting West, I flew east to create similar impulse & main stage visuals as well as impulse projections around the festival.

Constellation of Makers — I was invited (and obviously attended) an 8-person creative retreat in Napa at The Terraces where we drank wine, ate peaches, and collaborated on anything we wanted. Incredibly inspiring.

Virtual Reality: Aerospace Client PHASE ONE — Started working on concept projects with an aerospace company. It's all under NDA, but the previous sentence is clear with legal.

Banff, Canada Roadtrip — Went on an incredible photography-fueled adventure roadtrip with my roommate Chris Damiani and his master, Tanner.

Vivid Coffee — Visual identity & packaging for the acclaimed new Vermont-based coffee roaster.

XOXOFEST 2015 Animatics — Super excited to contribute animated speaker titles and idle animations for XOXO. Identity by Moniker.

East Coast October — A trip to Minneapolis for my other conference of choice, INST-INT, prompted a productive visit back east to soak myself in the autumn of Vermont, Maine, and NYC.

White Noise Concept — Part of East Coast October was a material/projection exploration with Erika Senft Miller, expanding on a new project for 2016, an idea conceived earlier this year at Constellation of Makers.

Projecting West Prints — After the previous whirlwind, Mike Ackerman and I finish up print rewards for our Kickstarter backers.

Projecting West Gallery Show — We jumped at the opportunity to design & install our first gallery show to share our adventure in Burlington, VT.

Portland / Portland Patches — A patch inspired by Projecting West, designed as a nod to both Portlands. You should buy one!

Cinco Design Holiday Party — Site-specific light installation with live visuals at Cooper's Hall in Portland, OR.

Build 2013 Video Titles — Some quick intro motion titles made for the long awaited videos from the final year of BUILD.

Virtual Reality: Aerospace Client PHASE TWO — Completed a more advanced VR visualization concept project with aforementioned aerospace company. Still under NDA.

Future is Inevitable — Solo show to close out the year and kick off 2016. 4 days only, downtown Portland, ME.

Now, onto 2016.

Last year I learned a few important things: Working on everything you possibly can tends to beat you up over time. Juggle too many things and you'll eventually drop one. Be honest with yourself about timing. Everything you do takes time. Great things take time. Pricing is hard, but just take a hotdamn minute and figure out your expenses, and it makes everything easier. Everyone has a limit. Everyone has a limit.

I feel I have an incredible platform of friends, collaborators, current & future clients, and upcoming self-initiated projects looking toward 2016.

The Do more, Go more mantra has served me well, but it's a little unruly. I prefer these 'mantras' over resolutions because they're more like overarching feelings for the year, rather than a list of lofty goals that result in disapointment when one of them isn't realized.

For 2016, I feel like I'll finally hit my stride as a professional but need to focus on balancing my work with reflection, writing, and sharing. I felt quiet in this great exciting internet social world we live in. My overarching mantra for 2016 is Go, Hustle, Be.

Go, because the map that started this post only shows a continental map of USA. There's always more out there to experience.

Hustle, because the harder & more efficiently I work, the more time I can take to...

Be. To be present, to reflect, to share publicly, to love, to seek out and enjoy spending time with all sorts of people in life.

I'm thankful and fortunate to have sustained the jump to working independently for 2.5 years in my mid 20's, when you apparently feel old + young simultaneously, and you can bet I'm going to give all of my energy & sleep & money earned making the most of it.

2016: Go, hustle, be.

UPCOMING 2016 EVENTS: Scoble Show – Projection Installation. January 16, 2016. Napa Valley. Private Event. Portland Monthly's Winter Remedy – Event visuals. January 19, 2016. Cooper's Hall, Portland, OR. 'Between Them' — Bridge projection for Portland Winter Light Festival. NEW WORK, February 3-6, 2016. ZX at Byte Me 5.0, Portland, OR. February, 2016. Projecting West Gallery Show — Portland, OR — Dates TBA Projecting West Gallery Show — Portland, ME — Dates TBA

White Noise Now — Get yourself hip to whitenoisenow.com — Tour dates TBA Light Capsules — NEW SERIES. I can't wait to tell you about this, when it's ready.

Thanks for your support, and I hope this finds you well! Here's to an incredible 2016. –Craig

[craigwinslow]

Final hours to join Projecting West!

Over the weekend we hit our funding goal, and tonight at 9PM PDT, Midnight EDT our funding period ends!

The next 15 days of videos will be backer-only, so jump on board now, share it with a friend, and get excited as we are for this big adventure!

[craigwinslow]

Projecting West is a Kickstarter Staff Pick!

Our Kickstarter has raised 55% of our goal, with 7 days remaining until the start of our adventure, and today it was awarded the coveted Staff Pick badge!

We’ll wear it proudly.

Over the weekend The Creators Project wrote a really nice feature interview on us, where we they premiered an exclusive teaser of the project & revealed a character, so give that a look/read/gander, too!

http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/premiere-projecting-west-takes-immersive-projection-mapping-on-the-road

Support our Kickstarter today, share it with your friends, and follow along with our backer-only adventure!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/craigwinslow/projecting-west

—Craig

[craigwinslow]

Projecting West — Kickstarter Launched!

I’m incredibly excited to share the launch of my first Kickstarter project, Projecting West.

In collaboration with concept designer & illustrator Mike Ackerman, we’re driving across the country from Portland to Portland(ia), creating daily projection mapping installations as backer-only videos, with an unfolding narrative told over the course of 15 days.

It’s going to be a wonderful adventure, so I hope you support & back the project, and share it with a close friend.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/craigwinslow/projecting-west

[craigwinslow]

Commune Featured Artist

Last fall I was asked to make a shirt & poster for Commune, a group that’s been engaging local creatives and providing smoke-free (and financially free to attend) music/social gatherings to help people quit smoking.

After the event I was excited to hear they were interested in featuring me in their quarterly zine. They interviewed me about my work, my process, and why I don’t smoke cigarettes. I basically responded saying I drink beer instead.

In hindsight, “Beer is my anti-drug” probably doesn’t have the best ring to it.

Thanks so much for the feature, Commune.

If you're in San Francisco or San Diego, sign up and check em out.

Photo smiles thanks to Daniel Agee as part of his project: http://foryourself.co/#/craigwinslow

[craigwinslow]

Celebrating 150 Years of Burlington

After living in Burlington for 8 years, I was ecstatic to hear Burlington City Arts and the City of Burlington wanted me to take over city hall to help in celebrating their 150th birthday.

We were given 3 nights, 3 giant projectors, and a 2nd floor studio space across the street, from which we were safe from negative temperatures and record snowfall.

BCA allowed us full creative control, so we focused on creating familiar content such as maple forests, glimmering sunsets, and trippy animated rorschach tie dye that just screamed VT.

As an ambient piece that ran at night, we controlled visuals live to keep things fresh, adding in sound-reactive light particles, bold colors, and Burlington-specific info such as a past mayors.

The first two nights served as teasers that grew in intensity and allowed us to test in such a public place, with the big show kicking off Saturday night.

Presented by BCA + City of Burlington

Motion Design Intern – David Lee Fiddler

Filmed by John Hrindo Edited by Craig Winslow

[craigwinslow]

Here's my empty new PDX studio space.

It's part of NXT Lab, a remodeled auto shop in SE Portland. There's a huge build area in the back, loads of common space, & other talented minds. 

I've got big plans for this modest nook.

Also, a lot of work from the past few months to document!

[craigwinslow]

BTV 150th Anniversary This Weekend!

This Saturday night I'll be controlling live visuals projection mapped to Burlington's City Hall as part of a celebration of 150 years of being a city.

It's been a dream project made possible by Burlington City Arts, the City of Burlington, and a handful of sponsors, a project that I hope will inspire a future of more light installations in this little city!

Last night and tonight are teaser nights, you may see some tinkering happening and surprise tests from my special tech perch.

The big display happens Saturday night starting from 5:30pm and goes until late. Until then, I'm spending all the time I can making more and more content to share.

Also, I'm terribly behind with blog posts in a rush of work & travel the past month to literally 4 corners of America. Next week I'll recap properly as I begin to settle back into my new homebase out west!